Howto: access removable media from andLinux

From andLinux

(New page: Accessing removable media from andLinux <h1>Abstract</h1> Having instant access to hot pluggable or removable media (such as USB sticks) on andLinux can be tricky. There is no direct way ...)

Fortunately, there is a solution to that, using Windows itself and the power of NTFS. Like Unix file systems, NTFS supports mount points, which allows a physical drive to be mounted inside an empty directory and its contents seamlessly displayed. This works for USB drive and CD/DVDs as long as the host drive is formatted with NTFS.

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Fortunately, there is a solution to that, using Windows itself and the power of NTFS. Like Unix file systems, NTFS supports mount points, which allows a physical drive to be mounted inside an empty directory and its contents seamlessly displayed. This works for USB drives and CD/DVDs as long as the host drive is formatted with NTFS. The external drive can be formatted with anything that Windows will read.

Here's how to mount a drive as a directory in Windows XP:

Here's how to mount a drive as a directory in Windows XP:

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andLinux/coLinux having mounted a NTFS partition as cofs will see these subdirectories as genuine NTFS folders. Any automatic volume mounting will be handled by Windows and will be transparent to Linux.

andLinux/coLinux having mounted a NTFS partition as cofs will see these subdirectories as genuine NTFS folders. Any automatic volume mounting will be handled by Windows and will be transparent to Linux.

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Other low level NTFS features that will show up in mounted cofs partitions are junction points and hard links, which are equivalent to directory symlinks and file hard links in Linux. These features are hidden from the standard UI but can be accessed with free third party tools like Alax.Info NTFS Links.

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Other low level NTFS features that will show up in mounted cofs partitions are junction points and hard links, which are equivalent to directory symlinks and file hard links in Linux. These features are hidden from the standard UI but can be accessed with free third party tools like [http://alax.info/ Alax.Info NTFS Links].

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<h1>Accessing non-Windows compatible media</h1>

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The directions above are the way to go if your media is readable by Windows but what

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if it's formatted with a Linux filesystem that Windows won't recognize? The following instructions have been used successfully on Windows Vista.

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Start a windows command line: cmd.exe and run diskpart.exe;

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*** 1s Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]

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Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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C:\>diskpart

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Another window will open and you should see something like the following;

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Microsoft DiskPart version 6.0.6001

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Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Microsoft Corporation.

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On computer: XXXXX-VISTA

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DISKPART>

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Use diskpart to determine the harddisk number and partition number.

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First list all disks;

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DISKPART> list disk

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Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

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-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

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Disk 0 Online 298 GB 0 B

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Disk 1 Online 75 GB 0 B

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In this case the external disk is ~80GB so we need to list the

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partitions on "Disk 1", first we need to select it and then we can

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list the partitions;

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DISKPART> select disk 1

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Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

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DISKPART> list partition

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Partition ### Type Size Offset

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------------- ---------------- ------- -------

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Partition 1 Primary 71 GB 32 KB

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Partition 0 Extended 3153 MB 71 GB

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Partition 2 Logical 3153 MB 71 GB

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We now have all the information we need to create device entry

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for the andLinux settings.txt file. The device to map is the

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first disk and the first partition, this translates to;

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hda1=\Device\Harddisk1\Partition1

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You may choose to have something like the following in your /etc/fstab;

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/dev/hda1 /mnt/usb reiserfs rw,user

Current revision

Accessing removable media from andLinux using COFS

Abstract

Having instant access to hot pluggable or removable media (such as USB sticks) on andLinux can be tricky. There is no direct way to do so from the UI and users typically have to edit fstab or other configuration files, with mixed success. In addition, automatic mounting is not fully supported and the mounted volume may no longer be accessible to Windows.

Workaround

Fortunately, there is a solution to that, using Windows itself and the power of NTFS. Like Unix file systems, NTFS supports mount points, which allows a physical drive to be mounted inside an empty directory and its contents seamlessly displayed. This works for USB drives and CD/DVDs as long as the host drive is formatted with NTFS. The external drive can be formatted with anything that Windows will read.

Here's how to mount a drive as a directory in Windows XP:

Insert the external drive or media

Open Control Panel/Administrative tools

Open Computer Management

Select Disk Management in the storage section

Right-click the desired drive or partition

Select "Change drive letter and path"

Add a mount point to an empty NTFS folder

If you want, you can now remove the drive letter in the previous dialog

andLinux/coLinux having mounted a NTFS partition as cofs will see these subdirectories as genuine NTFS folders. Any automatic volume mounting will be handled by Windows and will be transparent to Linux.

Other low level NTFS features that will show up in mounted cofs partitions are junction points and hard links, which are equivalent to directory symlinks and file hard links in Linux. These features are hidden from the standard UI but can be accessed with free third party tools like Alax.Info NTFS Links.

Accessing non-Windows compatible media

The directions above are the way to go if your media is readable by Windows but what
if it's formatted with a Linux filesystem that Windows won't recognize? The following instructions have been used successfully on Windows Vista.